Justin and Lora Hawkes

TV director Justin Hawkes, 43, met his wife Lora Pavlova-Hawkes, 39, in her native Bulgaria in 2006. Lora is retraining as a TV editor and often works alongside her husband. The couple live in Auckland’s Titirangi with their children, Louis, 10, and Flore

JI’d just finishedmaking a documentary about hip-hop in New York and needed some time off, so decided to visitmy sister, who’d justmoved to Bulgaria to teach English. On my second night in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, my sister tookme to a party, which turned out to be for Lora’s brother. I saw Lora and thought how beautiful she was. My first words to her were: ‘‘Do you speak English?’’ which was a bit lame, but thankfully she did. We got on really well and have the same kind of personality – we’re both quiet and contemplative.

After two weeks, Iwas running out of money so went to London to work. Lorawas studying amaster’s degree in physiotherapy in Norway, so I visited her for a week, which turned into three months. Iwas totally unprepared for a Norwegian winter and paying $20 for a beer! We basically hunkered down in her dorm room for threemonths and I thought, if we can survive this prison-like existence then we can survive anything.

I did worry about the impracticality of being in a relationship with someone from overseas – but we decided to give it a go. We’ve been back and forth to Bulgaria and lived there for three yearswhen Iwas directing shows for the Travel International Channel.

Having a child made travelling a bit harder, so in 2015we decided tomake New Zealand our home and bought a house in Titirangi. Living in the suburbs was hard for Lora because she was used to the buzz of major European cities. She also hasn’t got her NZ driver’s licence yet – it’s an ongoing process! Once she has that, she’ll have more independence. But we both know New Zealand is the best place to bring up kids.

Lora is easy-going and a really calm person. She’s also smart and knows a lot about all kinds of things, she’s like awalking Wikipedia. She was a physio in Bulgaria for seven years but had to retrain here and wasn’t keen. She’s always been arty and had been watching my work, so decided to join me in my world. As long as I don’t tell her what to do – either in editing or in driving – we’re good! Maybe it’s a hangover from living under a communist regime where shewas told what to do?

We both work from home but have our own dedicated work areas. There’s no creative tension and it’s good living with someone in the same industry. But being freelancers with two kids and an Auckland mortgage can be stressful at times. We’re also trying to get the work-life balance thing right, which isn’t easy, but we’re getting there.

LI’ve wanted to travel since I was a child, but Bulgaria was under communist rule till 1989, so I wasn’t able to. As soon as we were free to travel, I did a high school exchange in France and then in Finland. When Imet Justin, Iwasn’t really looking for anyone. I’d been single for a year and was studying inNorway having a good time! Butwhen Justin entered the room it was as though the sun came inside – he has a real presence. He’s also good-looking and is a great conversationalist. I had a dream that night that we were going to be together.

I didn’t know what to expectwhen I first came to New Zealand, but Justin picked me up from the airport and blindfolded me. He started driving and took me to Mt Eden where he proposed. It was at night so the starswere out. Itwas very romantic.

We got married in Bulgaria, at the top of a tall buildingwith a view of Sofia beneath us. Justin’s mother, brother and sister came out for the wedding, which increased the number of New Zealanders in Bulgaria!

It took me a while to find friends inNew Zealand, but now I’m happy here. Justin was working on a documentary in Bulgaria with a fortune-teller, who told me that Justin and Iwould work together some day. That’s happened with me getting into film editing.

There’s no problem if we’re working on a project and he’s my boss, because we’re professionals. He’s a good teacher but my personality is the kind that likes to work out things for myself. I’m quite independent. It’s the same with driving: I used to drive in Bulgaria but the drivers there are pretty crazy. I should have started driving as soon as I got here but I got comfortable and now my skills are rusty. I think Justin is a bit nervous going in the car with me.

Justin is a great father, and he fully supports me in my career. He’s also caring and loving and helped me fit into New Zealand.

The only bad thing I can say about him is that he works too hard. He’s a perfectionist and works crazy hours which can impact on our family time. I know he’d like to spend more time with the kids but often he can’t because of work.

But I’m glad I get to workwith him sometimes and to be part of a creative industry. Iwanted to be an artist when Iwas younger but my parents wouldn’t support the idea. Finally, I can follow my artistic dream.

Justin co-directed Taranaki Hard, a coming-of-age docuseries about growing up inWaitara, which screens on Three on Monday at 8.40pm. Lora worked on the series as an editor’s assistant.